Kim Mulkey's Thoughts: LSU Women's Basketball Falls to UCLA Bruins in Elite Eight

Kim Mulkey and the No. 3-seeded LSU Tigers dropped an Elite Eight clash to the UCLA Bruins on Sunday night in Spokane (Wash.) to wrap up the 2024-25 season.

Mulkey and Co. took the podium following the NCAA Tournament showdown to discuss the season as a whole, what's next and more,

Mulkey's Take: Tigers Fall in Spokane

Q. We talked about it yesterday, obviously trying to limit somebody else from going off, but Jaquez and Gardiner just above their average from behind the arc. I know you were getting after the girls on those closeouts most of the game. What did you see there?

KIM MULKEY: I want to say this first. The saddest day of your life as a student-athlete in basketball is when you take that jersey off your senior year and you never put it on again. Now, some will go on and play pro ball, but that's why Nees is so emotional.

That's a tough pill to swallow when you're a senior. And as I tell her, only one program will be happy in another week. Just one will be happy.

And Betts did not beat us. We guarded her as tough as we could guard her. We did not take advantage of Betts being off the floor in the second quarter and we allowed perimeter threes and other people to step up.

But I will say, as I said before, they're not all about Betts. Betts is just a safety valve down there. When they get in trouble, she can score it at will.

But I look at the stat sheet, we outscored 'em four field goals. Now, the foul line, I think they went there almost 30 times to our 12. We out-rebounded them. I would have to go back and look at the shots. We missed just wide-open shots.

We knew going in the paint that there would be opportunity for her to alter shots and block shots, but some of the shots we just missed. We missed until I can go back and look at the film and see why we missed those.

Our defense on Betts was as good as we could do. Our discipline defensively cost us. Examples would be when the shot clock was winding down, we are taught every day it's a hot situation and it's an automatic switch, and we gave up several of those today, wide-open shots. So it was a good game. It was a good game.

Q. Obviously Aneesah is emotional. She thanked you. Just what was it like for you to coach her and see just her kind of historical career unfold?

KIM MULKEY: You wish you had Aneesah every time you walked on a court every day because you knew what you were getting from her and her effort.

It didn't matter how banged up she was, how hurt she felt. Nees only knows how to play, and that's hard. And she will take this loss extremely hard because that's how she was raised. And give me the Aneesah Morrows of the world every day.

Q. You heard the girls talk about it. How will you view this season and does it soften this blow to hear them talk about personal growth as opposed to basketball achievements?

KIM MULKEY: As competitors, nothing softens the blow that you're this close to another Final Four (indicating), but being old like I am and being around awhile, I've learned to keep perspective, and time will help me think about things through the course of the year on things that we did that were really amazing, and -- and the portal, right?

It's time to get in the portal. This one leaves, this one goes, this one comes. So next year we'll start this thing up again and see what kind of team you have and go to work.

Q. This is the second straight year you guys get eliminated in the Elite Eight --

KIM MULKEY: Is that terrible or is that good?

Q. Terrible.

KIM MULKEY: Is it? How many Final Fours you play in?

Q. None.

KIM MULKEY: So it's probably pretty good, huh?

Q. Yeah.

KIM MULKEY: All right.

Q. Just curious how you would sum up the journey to the Elite Eight this year and how does it differ from last year?

KIM MULKEY: Different team, different players, role players from last year played bigger roles this year, transfers. I had five in that locker room that had never been to a Sweet 16, never been to an Elite Eight, and the amount of experience that they got will be valuable.

Yeah, I mean, I learned to celebrate every team I coach. Some have overachieved through the years, some have gone just as far as I thought they could go, and then some have underachieved. And that's the fun part of coaching. When you retire, you sit in that rocking chair and you think about all that.

But more importantly than any of that is listening to three All-Americans hurt and talk about things that they have learned that have nothing to do with basketball.

Q. You mentioned the three All-Americans. What was it like to coach all of them at the same time, having all three of them on the same team?

KIM MULKEY: A blessing. It was a blessing. I never take them for granted. I just really value that they chose to come to LSU and play in our program and through good times, wins, and bad times, losses, watch them own their team and own their play and get better and get better.

Q. Obviously just like any other year, you have seniors that are going to graduate and obviously we only see a glimpse of what you guys have been through just this season. What does this team mean to you and how was it to coach all of them?

KIM MULKEY: I think I would probably need a few days to think and answer that with great detail. After a loss or even an of a victory, it's hard to just sum up in a press conference what this team means. Obviously we had a heck of a year.

We -- just off the top of my head, we were a top seed again in the NCAA tournament. We got to host. We won games that we probably should not have. We managed injuries, I thought, as good as we could.

But there's so much more that I want to say, but I would have to just really let the emotion go away after a loss and just really, really think about what a very, very good year we've had, third year in a row in the Elite Eight with a National Championship thrown in there. So there's more good than this loss getting to a Final Four.

Q. I asked Flau'Jae about her second half, and so I wanted to ask you the same. Just what did you think of the way that she really took over the second half and also just her impact on your program?

KIM MULKEY: Well, I remember when I took the LSU job, Flau'Jae Johnson was the first McDonald's All-American that I signed at LSU. I had not coached and won anything at LSU, and she came to LSU. So she jump-started our program, really.

And then the portal helped us. We brought in Angel and lots of other players. But Flau'Jae was a high school All-American and we got her. So I'm forever indebted to Flau'Jae Johnson.

I think she told you -- the game was lost in the second quarter. That's where the game was lost. We didn't capitalize on Betts being off the floor. And she feels like she was a big part of that not having played up to what she -- her standards are for herself in the second quarter.

In the third and fourth quarter, I think she really, really tried. That's what All-Americans do. They just try to figure out some way to impact the game, and she did. She did.

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